Distillation methods using such installations are suitable for the separation of liquids, which are mixed with further liquids and/or solids for example to give dispersions or emulsions and which are mutually soluble. One known application is alcohol distillation. In this case, the liquid to be distilled is alcohol, in many other applications it is water.
Mostly, known methods use complex devices as condensers, comprising interconnected piping systems such as are known from the distillation of alcohol. On the one hand, such systems have the disadvantage of a complex assembly of apparatuses, and on the other hand the requirement of a high temperature difference between the starting material and the condenser, which is necessary to achieve a sufficient yield of the method. The achievement of such a high temperature difference is very expensive.
It has been shown that the efficiency of the distillation method may be improved if the vapor chamber is free from foreign gas as much as possible. In WO 02/09837, a distillation installation is described, in which foreign gas has to be removed from the vapor chamber. This is achieved by means of a vacuum pump with high performance and long operation times which sucks off the medium from the bath. Unfortunately, by using this method a huge amount of vapor is sucked off together with the condensate. On the one hand, this unnecessarily affects the pump, and on the other hand very much condensate is sucked off by said permanent suction, which then is no longer available for the recovery of energy.
In EP 0563628 another distillation installation is presented, which generates a suction action by means of a continuously operating vacuum pump in the condenser, to suck off the vapors from the evaporator to the condenser. On the one hand, this method also needs much operation energy, on the other hand the condensate is also sucked off from the vapor chamber here, whereby additionally energy is lost in the form of heat.